BUI citations up slightly from 2012

Boating under the influence remains a concern across the Great Lakes, including the Lake Erie waters off Erie County.

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has cited four boat operators for BUI on Lake Erie or Presque Isle Bay so far in 2013, compared to two BUI citations in all of 2012.

"There have been years when there has been significantly more BUIs issued," said Sgt. Tom Tarkowski, the commission's assistant regional manager. Year-by-year BUI numbers before 2012 were not available.

Tarkowski's comments echo those from U.S. Coast Guard officials, who told the Associated Press that BUI citations on the Great Lakes have declined from the mid-2000s.

Coast Guard personnel stationed on the five lakes had issued 89 citations for drunken boating this year through Aug. 13, said Lt. Davey Connor, spokesman for the Coast Guard's 9th District office in Cleveland. That's up from 84 during the same period a year ago but still an improvement from 2005, when the number had reached 262 by the same date.